All those years ago ... Feb. 28, 1963

Auburn Journal fileA new Studebaker and International show room has been opened by Bill Helton (left), owner of Helton Motors, on Cleveland Avenue. The new facility, which joins his used car lot is part of the expansion program undertaken by the local car dealer. Shown with Helton are (left to right): Van Eades, sales manager; Floyd Schamps, salesman; and Bob Hansford, office manager and sales coordinator.

From the pages of the Auburn Journal, Feb. 28, 1963
Arrest follows alleged assault in taxi feud
Auburn’s long-smoldering taxi feud flared anew last weekend with charges and counter charges of roughhouse tactics by both companies. The friend of a Joe’s Taxi Co. driver, in a citizen’s complaint, alleged that an employee of the City Cab Co. took a menacing swipe at him with a tire iron.
Arrested on charges of misdemeanor assault and disturbing the peace was Charles E. Wren, a Fort Ord soldier who drives for City Cab (owned by his father) on weekends.
The complaint was sworn out by Richard Packard, 18, a friend of Frederick Clarence “Joe” Quick, 22, a driver for Joe’s Taxi and the son-in-law of the firm’s owner.
Packard and Quick were together last Friday night when the alleged assault took place in the parking area behind the Greyhound station, the scene of most of the friction.
Quick claimed that Wren goaded him into going behind the building for a fistfight. Wren, in return, claims Quick goaded HIM into going behind the depot.
One thing is sure: the rules of the Marquis of Queensbury did not prevail. Instead, said Quick, young Wren swung a tire iron at Packard, narrowly missing him. Quick added that a “pal” of Wren – unnaccounted for as yet – took a sneak punch at him.
Wren admitted possessing a tire iron, but said he grabbed it because he was outnumbered. He denied swinging it.

‘Bizz’ Johnson cites support for water and power projects
Presidential support of four major water, power and recreation developments in Northern California has been indicated following a White House meeting between presidential advisers and Representative Harold T. (Bizz) Johnson. Congressman Johnson and Charles U. Daly, President Kennedy’s western regional representative, were the principal participants in the discussion of natural resources development in the Second, mountain-valley, district.
…Number One priority on the President’s water development program, it was declared after the meeting, will be authorization of Auburn Dam which will provide nearly complete control and utilization of the American River power and water resources. This two million acre foot reservoir, which connected with the Auburn-Folsom South Canal, will provide water resources for a large area of California’s richest agricultural regions.Not guilty plea by Taylor as Ollar confesses
The alleged mastermind of last month’s $50,000 jewelry theft in Roseville pleaded not guilty to the charge last Thursday while his co-defendant pleaded guilty and threw himself on the mercy of the court – and the probation department.Ralph Taylor, 34 and a three-time loser, entered his not guilty plea after Superior Judge Leland Propp denied a motion by his lawyer, Wayne Wylie, for dismissal of the grand jury indictment against him.
Wylie had claimed that the indictment charging burglary with explosives – a crime punishable by five years to life – was invalid because it contained opinioned testimony by police.
Judge Propp said the indictment was indeed valid. He scheduled Taylor’s trial for March 12.Melvin Monroe Ollar, a bespectacled youth of 20 from Yuba City, pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Students tour bakery
Second and third graders from the Penryn School visited the Wonder Bakery in Sacramento last Thursday and, after seeing how bread was made, each of them brought home a fresh loaf.
Teachers conducting the field trip were Mrs. Grace Holliday and Mrs. Clare Brown. Parents assisting were Mrs. Thelma Harrison, Mrs. Millie Taylor and Mrs. Meta Nagioka.

Pauline Love seeks divorce
There’s no love lost in the Love home at Elder’s Corner.Mrs. Pauline Love, through Lawyer D.R. Robinson, yesterday filed suit for divorce from her husband of 17 years, Sherman Love.
Mrs. Love asked for equal distribution of community property which includes power tools, guns, boats, outboard motors and, oh yes, the house and a beauty shop in Auburn.

Bob Crabbe on vacation from press job in Japan
Seventy percent of the Japanese people have television sets, 12 percent own refrigerators – and only two percent vote the Communist ticket.
These surprising statistics were discussed here the other day by Bob Crabbe, an Auburnite who now plies his trade as a United Press International correspondent in Tokyo.
Crabbe, 38, and his attractive wife, Glenda, visited his mother, Mrs. Earl Crabbe during their first trip to the United States in 16 months.
Asked if the Japanese were pro-American or pro-Soviet, the veteran newsman said with a grin:
“They’re actually ‘pro Japanese.’ They’re a very nationalistic people — a very proud people.”
Television, of course, has become a mania in Japan, with 70 percent of the people owning sets.
The Crabbes are able to keep up with the doings of such TV types as “Ben Casey,” “The Beverly Hillbillies” and Clint Walker in “Rawhide.”
These shows present only one problem for persons who don’t understand Japanese – the native dialogue is dubbed in in place of the American chatter.
Imagine Clint Walker saying “Drop that gun!” in Japanese.